B-2 



heavily spiculated - sometimes with the spicules at the upper edge 

 developed into long projecting spines. The anthocidia can also 

 be spiculated - the spicules most frequently being arranged in 

 eight series of vertical rows corresponding to and sometimes exten- 

 ding into the tentacles. There can also be a spicular collaret 

 consisting of several transverse rows encircling the lower portion 

 of the anthocodia. In some species with non-retractile polyps 

 the anthocodia blends imperceptibly with the anthostele to form 

 an elongated calycular-like structure often reinforced with eight 

 vertical rows of spicules and augmented at the base of the tentacles 

 with a series of projecting spines. 



The size, shape, and arrangement of the spicules on the polyps 

 as well as in other parts of the colony are diagnostic features 

 of octocorals at the species, generic and even family level. At 

 the ordinal and subordinal level, the octocorals are differentiated 

 on the basis of the colonial growth form and the presence or 

 absence of a central core which functions as an axial support for 

 the colony. Representatives of three octocoral orders occur in 

 deep water off the northeast U.S. coast: these are the Alcyonacea, 

 the Gorgonacea, and the Pennatulacea. In the Alcyonacea the 

 colonies are massive, lobate or branched, and there is no central 

 axial core. Some of the polyp cavities extend from the top of the 

 colony to the base. Alcyonaceans usually grow attached to hard 

 substrates, but a few species are also found embedded in soft 

 sediments. Alcyonaceans occurring within the study area include 



